Sports

Greg Baxter looks on during the Cañon City Tigers basketball game against the Pueblo Central Wildcats on Tuesday at the Tiger Dome. Central won 90-81. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

The Tigers played perhaps their best offensive game of the season.

If their defensive performance was anything close, Tuesday's game would've gone a different way.

Chris Beltram and Kobi Betts filled in for Pueblo Central's absent leading scorer as the Wildcats beat the Tigers 90-81 in a South-Central League game.

"It's pretty bad when you shoot 58 percent from the floor, you expect to win with 81 points, but it is what it is," Tigers senior Lucas Teigen said.

It was the Tigers' third close loss in four S-CL games, although this one wasn't nearly as heart breaking as the first two — a double-overtime loss to No. 6 Pueblo East and a loss to Pueblo West when the Tigers had an 11-point lead.

Jared Mews dribbles against Pueblo Central's Keysean Laws during the Tigers' game against the Wildcats on Tuesday at the Tiger Dome. Central won 90-81. (Brandon Hopper / Daily Record)

Central led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter before the Tigers' offense transitioned from hot to scorching. The team made five 3-pointers in the last quarter and got as close as seven points. They outscored the Wildcats 30-20 in that quarter.

Cañon City was led by Gunner Javernick's 16 points. He was followed by Corey Richardson (13), Wesley Jaynes (12), Michael Lennox (12) and Craig Overholt (10).

For Central, Beltram had 32 points, and Betts scored 22. DJ Herrera and Dakota Burns had 14 and 13, respectively.

"Kobi early, Chris late," Wildcats coach Brad Ranson said. "It was just kind of a 1-2 punch. The other kids came in and helped the cause, they set great screens and we hit shots."

At 4:10 in the third quarter, Beltram and Betts both had more than 20 points. At that time, no Tiger player had reached 10.

On Deck

Friday: Cañon City @ Pueblo South, 7 p.m.*

Tuesday: Cañon City @ Pueblo East, 7 p.m.*

Feb. 18: Cañon City vs. Pueblo County, 7 p.m.*

Feb. 21: Cañon City @ Pueblo West, 7 p.m.*

Feb. 26: Cañon City in first round of state playoffs, if necessary

* South-Central League game

It was the fourth straight game that Central played without Michael Ranson, the team's leading scorer and No. 2 in the S-CL. He averages 18.5. The sophomore scored 29 points against Cañon City in the teams' first meeting of the season. Central won that game 68-52.

It was the second time this season that the Tigers have allowed 80-plus points and first time an opponent has reached 90. The Tigers' previous offensive season high was 79 points in their opener against Woodland Park (2-16).

The Tigers fell to 8-11 on the season and are now 1-5 in the S-CL. To reach their goal of ending up with 11 wins, the Tigers will have to beat either No. 3 Pueblo South (15-2, 5-0) on the road or No. 6 East (14-4, 4-1) on the road, and beat Pueblo West (7-10, 2-3) and Pueblo County (0-18, 0-5).

Pueblo Central improved to 13-6 and 4-2 with the win on Tuesday.

Cañon City will travel to play South at 7 p.m. Friday. The Colts beat the Tigers 87-50 on Jan. 17.